October 3-5, 2019 at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, NV.

Earn up to 21 contact hours (including pre-conference workshops).

Senior Report: Older Americans have more options for home care, but still struggling.

The United Health Foundation has released results of a sweeping new study benchmarking the health of older adults. The America's Health Rankings® Senior Report was created in partnership with GAPNA to improve the health of America's seniors.

The data will help advanced practice nurses and other providers deliver quality care.

New for GAPNA members: MCM Education

GAPNA has partnered with a MCM Education to offer an ongoing series of CNE programs available to GAPNA members. "Diagnosing and Managing Parkinson’s Disease in Older Adults," is the latest program offered.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by both motor and nonmotor symptoms. It is diagnosed based on the presence of two of four motor symptoms including rest tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and gait imbalance...

FREE continuing education credit is available for the following session:

"Dementia Management Update"

(session captured at the GAPNA 2018 Annual Conference)

Needs of Aging Population

A National Conversation Is Essential to Addressing Challenging Needs of an Aging Population

Over 40% of older adults in the United States are living with four or more chronic illnesses, receive care from a fragmented healthcare system, and are struggling with rising costs and uneven quality.

To confront this national crisis, more than 50 health system leaders, policymakers, innovators, and scholars convened recently to identify actionable recommendations designed to transform care delivery for older adults with complex health and social needs and support their family caregivers.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) and its NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health sponsored the 2-day, invitational “think tank,” Assuring High Value Care for Vulnerable Older Adults and their Caregivers: Maximizing the Contributions of Nurses, in May 2018 at the University of Pennsylvania campus.

The goal of this meeting – led by Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology, and Nancy Hodgson, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Anthony Buividas Term Chair in Gerontology – was to recommend a path to improve the value of health care for older adults with complex chronic conditions.

Meeting participants focused on three significant opportunities to achieve high-value care in the next few years: accelerating the use of evidence-based care models; increasing partnerships with health care consumers; and, advancing the use of emerging healthcare innovations.

Two high-level recommendations that emerged from this meeting include the urgent need to:

Launch a national dialogue on how to address, in our health and social systems, what matters to chronically ill older adults and their family caregivers.

Facilitate health system transformation and payment and policy changes to support adoption and adaptation of high-value care models.

Additional recommendations focused on positioning nurses to take on leadership roles in implementing high-value care models for chronically ill older adults and their family caregivers, and to prepare future nurses as health innovators and catalysts of system transformation.

Focus groups, conducted with older adults living with complex conditions in advance of the meeting, confirmed the role of nurses in advancing high-value care.

“The care of older adults, especially those living with multiple health and social problems, is one of the most complex and costly priorities confronting societies across the globe,” said Dr. Naylor, who is also Director of the NewCourtland Center and a Senior Fellow at Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. “It is our hope that immediate action on these recommendations will substantially enhance the value of care delivered by health and community-based systems.”

Plan your trip to the nation’s capital during GAPNA’s Annual Conference, September 26-29, 2018 by checking out all the things to do, places to eat, and ways to have fun.